


Omnium rerum principia parva sunt (The beginnings of all things are small)

by pastell



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternative Universe - Angels and Demons, Angel Leonard Snart, Angel Rogues, Angels and Demons, Crossroads Deals & Demons, Demon Barry Allen, Evil but not evil Barry, M/M, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-17 05:09:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 20,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15454026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastell/pseuds/pastell
Summary: Barry’s team counted as one of the best among the crossroads demons. So it came as no surprise when Barry felt a summoning in the middle of the day. What was perplexing was the caller himself. The demon usually made sure not to meddle in anything that could call down heavens wrath upon them and as far as he knew a peace treaty was still in effect.“So what can I do for you on this fine day? Got lost on your way back home? ‘Cause if you were trying to call for help, you definitely dialed the wrong number.”“I’m here to make you an offer.”(When Len seeks out Barrys help in an urgent matter, neither of them knew that it was just the beginning of a relationship that would in the end save all three planes of existence.)





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sleeping4tNight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sleeping4tNight/gifts).



> Thanks to my beta topsecretzombie for helping me with editing parts of this.
> 
> _____ is a change of location/character describing the scene
> 
>  _italics_ are for flashbacks

_That's how it started. With a kiss._

Well, it didn't actually start with a kiss. It started with the creation of the universe, the construction of heaven and hell and everything in between and the words “Let there be light”.

It started with the creation of the angels and the subsequent fall of Lucifer and with the birth of mankind many centuries later.

But for the people in this story, it started with a kiss.

It wasn't a romantic kiss. It wasn't even a good kiss if one asked the participants about it. It was a short peck on the lips that was only remarkable for the events that would follow it.

_______________________________________

“Are you sure that that’s a wise idea?” Were the first words Len was greeted with when he stepped into their common room.

The common room had been Lens idea. As leader of his own garrison, he had the freedom and ability to make something for the garrison under his command and he liked the idea of a place they could gather, a place that wasn’t the library or the training grounds. Since their group spent most of their time sneaking around on earth, it was mutually decided to design their space the same way. As a result, the common room was born.

With it’s unusually large, half round sofa in the center and the dining table in the corner it was normally highly frequented. Today the room was completely empty with the exception of Len and Lisa. 

He took a minute to make his way over to the sofa and get settled before turning around to look at his sister. 

“Is what a wise idea?”

“Making your way down there when it’s not even your business?” before he could protest, she quickly continued.

“I know you have a soft spot for the younger ones, but it’s not part of our job to look for lost souls. Just tell them to report it, before you get in trouble as well.”

Even while she said it, Lisa knew that her brother wouldn’t listen to her. Among the many troops of heaven, his had always been a rather unconventional one. In the beginning, heaven had had high hopes for Len. He completed his training. He was the top of his class and it was therefore expected that he would one day lead heaven’s best soldiers on the most difficult missions.

Len, to the dismay of all the higher ups, decided to not give a damn. Over the years he collected all the outcasts and freaks heaven had to offer. They were barely balancing the line between what was acceptable and what could get them thrown down. The term ‘Rogues’ was often applied when others referred to them.

With this knowledge, it came as no surprise that he would jump at the chance to help the younger angels out when they carelessly misplaced one of the souls. Heaven ran on a strict order of rules and severe punishment. It was therefore no wonder that other angels would come to the rogues to rectify one of their mistakes before someone could notice and they’d get punished.

“Come on, Lis, you know what will happen if they report it.” Len shook his head while trying to find something earth appropriate to wear. 

“I’ll just take a quick look around to make sure it hasn't landed back on earth.”

With his plan in mind, he decided casual was in order. A simple white shirt, a pair of black jeans and blue and white sneakers would do the job. After all, he wasn’t there on official business. With a snap of his fingers, he was dressed and ready to go.

Lisa sighed while taking a seat next to her brother. 

“I'm not an idiot. I know you're looking for a way to find out if he has it. And as much as you deny it and as much as I would like to talk you out of it, you'll do it anyway.” She lifted one of his hands holding it between her smaller ones.

“Just promise me you'll be careful. Don't get caught up in anything you won't be able to handle. That means no interactions with demons. And please for everyone's sake,” she took a deep breath, before finishing her sentence, making sure to emphasize each word.

“Do not get caught, Lenny.”

Len stood up, pulling his sister with him before drawing her into a hug.

“It'll be okay. You know me, I never take missions that I can't handle and I always have a few backup plans.” With that, he squeezed her gently one last time before letting her go and making his exit.

Lisa watched her brother leave, silently hoping that he was right.

_______________________________________

Crossroad demons were a vital part of hell’s business. Not only did they run the biggest network of souls in hell, they ranked high in the hierarchy and therefore knew almost everything that was going on in all nine circles of hell. 

With that knowledge, it was pretty clear what Len had to do to find out where the missing soul was. He stated started by contacting his informants. They had kept a pretty close eye on people rumored to be on the lookout for a deal for him. This had allowed them to compile a list of the most frequented spots in use as well as the appearance and behavior of the connected demons.

With this list in mind, Len decided on the one most likely to comply with his request.

That's how he found himself in what he considered the middle of fucking nowhere. Why a demon would choose a crossroad in the middle of Saginaw, MN, was beyond him. And the fact that this place saw such a high frequency of visitors was even more puzzling. The only reason Len could come up with was that the demon doing business here must actually be somewhat honorable. Not all creatures of hell made the conditions of contracts explicitly known, usually trying to trick their clients, so that they could collect their souls sooner. This one seemed to be the exception. 

It was a requirement to sacrifice something of personal value, along with some charcoal, a little bottle of anointing oil and a few drops of one's blood to show the seriousness of the request if one wanted to summon this specific type of demon.

Sighing Len plucked out one of his feathers before putting it in a tiny wooden box along with everything else. Angels didn't have much that held that kind of attachment and since feathers couldn't be used to summon or bind them the choice was an easy one. 

Finding the Triangle of Solomon scratched into the street sign that marked the crossing of Seville Road and Solway Road, he dug a little hole and buried his offering. Having finished with the summoning and nothing else to do while he waited for the other to show up, Len settled himself on a rock at the side of the road and unwrapped a cheeseburger from the local dairy queen.

Angels didn't necessarily have to eat to survive, but if one knew--, the taste of what they were being served, they would enjoy the food. Although frowned upon in heaven, Len was of the opinion that you should always enjoy what life so graciously gifted you, as was everyone else in his team. Screw the opinion of others.

Len had just finished eating when he became aware of the presence of another being. He crumbled the empty wrapper up and put it back in the pocket of his jeans before he stood up and took a good look at the other.

His gaze traveled from the bottom up, past the red and yellow sneakers, the tight black jeans to the red and black shirt, hidden under a form-fitting black leather jacket with a zipper in the front. When he came to the face, Len was surprised by how young the body of the other looked. Must have gotten a really early start in the business, he thought, while taking in the brown disheveled looking hair and the blue eyes.

The demon looked surprised to see him there, although the smirk never left his face as he eyed Len. This was it, now he would know if the information he gathered would pay off or if he would end up totally screwed.

_______________________________________

Despite the odd places they chose as their territory, Barry’s team counted as one of the best among the crossroads demons. People actually sought them out specifically, driving hours or days to make a deal with them. Apparently, mouth-to-mouth propaganda was a powerful tool in the human world and the fact that neither Barry nor Cisco or Caitlin had ever screwed one of their customers over, be it about the terms of their deal or the end results had made the round upstairs. So it came as no surprise when Barry felt a summoning in the middle of the day. What was perplexing was the caller himself. The demon usually made sure not to meddle in anything that could call down heavens wrath upon them and as far as he knew a peace treaty was still in effect.

Taking a step forward and putting on his best smirk he decided to just take things as they came. The angel wasn’t bad looking and Barry was never one to pass an opportunity for a little flirting, no matter how misplaced it was.

“So what can I do for you on this fine day? Got lost on your way back home? ‘Cause if you were trying to call for help, you definitely dialed the wrong number.” He took another step towards the angel while he quietly checked his surroundings to make sure this wasn’t an ambush.

Satisfied with the results, he waited for the other to speak.

“I’m here to make you an offer.”

Okay, now he was surprised. No sense letting the angel see that though. “ Let me guess, it’s an offer I just can’t refuse.” He saw the other grin at his answer.

“Well you could, but if you accept, I’ll make it worth your while."/

Okay, now Barry was slightly interested. “And what does heaven want that is so urgent they couldn’t just put an official ask in?” Seeing the slightly guarded look suddenly in the eyes of his opposite, Barry suddenly understood what was happening here. “Oh, I see how it is. This isn’t official now, is it? Someone's going rogue” He couldn't suppress his laugh. His day just got a whole lot more interesting.

The angel sighed. “Yes, you’re right. I’m not here on anything official. I need some info which you might be able to provide for me. Under the table, so to speak. This can’t get back to anyone.”

“Okay, now I’m intrigued. You do know who you are talking to.” Barry gestured towards himself. “Demon and all that, you remember? Why would I do that?”

The other took a step closer. “Because I really need it and you have the reputation of being honest and fair and I’m willing to trade for it.”

“Really? And what exactly do you have that you would trade with me?” He kept a close eye on the other and took a sudden step back when the man conjured a bag out of thin air. His hand was halfway raised to make the appropriate gesture for a swift exit in case the angel was lying about the cause of his visit. The others would never let him live that stupidity down. Dammit.

_______________________________________

Len had to try hard to mask the satisfaction he felt from showing on his face. Nice to know he instilled fear in the other if need be. “Relax, kid. It may not seem that way at the moment, but I really need you a lot more than you need me at the moment. So I actually would be grateful if you stuck around and heard me out.” With that, he opened the bag and turned it around so the other could look inside, where a single feather lay.

He saw the demon’s eyes widen. “Is that….?” Apparently, Len had rendered him speechless.

He decided to help him out. “Yes, that’s an archangel feather”. Feathers might not have been able in helping to summon a demon, but they still held a certain amount of power. That was especially true for archangel ones. Unfortunately, they were really hard to come by, since their loss usually didn’t go unnoticed by said beings. If acquired though, they could be used in a number of spells either as one of the key ingredients or to give the outcome a nice power boost.

Len had made sure to always keep at least to at hand, though nobody could get him to tell them how he got a hold of them.

He could see that he had the others full interest now. His plan was working out perfectly as always.

“And what information is it that you want in return?” The demon's eyes met his and he saw suspicion in them. Len could understand and respect that. After all, not only were they on opposite sites, what he had just offered wasn't a small thing.

“Do you promise that this stays between us? An oath sealed in blood?”

“So it's that important? Fine, I'll do it, you got me curious and I really want that feather”. The demon procured a knife from behind his back and cut his palm, before smearing his blood over his hand.

Once he was done, he held the knife out to Len who did the same. Then they shook hands.

Satisfied Len took a step back. An oath like that couldn't be broken easily. The treaty between heaven and hell saw to that. Any violation of that rule would permit the opposing party to seek retribution as they saw fit and nobody wanted to be the cause of another fight, or worse, a new war.

“ I need information on a soul. It was supposed to be in heaven, but now it's gone and I need to know if he'll have it.” As he was speaking, he handed the other a piece of paper with the relevant information.

It took a second for the demon to lose the surprised look at the others words, then he laughed.  
“Man, all that just for one soul? No, take backs, but you could have just asked.”

The kid had the audacity to grin at him. Len started to like him, but he was also starting to get a bit impatient now. He'd already been down here too long. Lisa would start to worry soon and that wouldn't bide well for him. “So, do you have it or not?”

“ Well, I can give you the info you seek, but there are rules for this kind of deals, whether they involve souls or not.” The demon managed to look awkward and flirtatious at the same time.

Right, Len remembered the rules he had been told when first inquiring about the crossroad deals. Every interaction had to be sealed with a kiss. Well, he couldn’t back down now. The younger angels depended on him and since he hadn't gotten word from Lisa yet, he had to assume they were still searching frantically. God help them, if not.

“Yeah, I know the kid. A deal is a deal and I honor that.”

Well, that certainly had to be a first in heavens history. As far as he knew at least. Taking a step forward, he grinned, at least he'd have something to tell about when he got back. Then again who could he tell without getting them in danger if this got out? Maybe head just keep it to himself to laugh about in quiet moments. “Well, let's get it over with, shall we?”

Seeing Len keeping his cool about kissing the enemy seemed to make the demon lose his awkwardness and he stepped forward as well.

“Let's get this show on the road then.” The kid took another two steps forward until he was right in front of Len, took a deep breath, closed his eyes and quickly pressed their lips together.

Len reacted in kind and suddenly the kiss was over, just as quick as it had begun with him taking a step back this time.

“Now that that's finished, tell me what I came here for.”

“Okay, no, we don't have it, but maybe next time be more careful with them. If heaven would manage to lose one and it would have fallen down, that would have been it and then you'd really be out of luck.”

Len sighed. Well, that had mostly been a waste of effort, but at least now he knew, that the soul had to be up top at least. Time for him to get back. With a grin, he took another step back, grinned and gave the kid a shortwave.

“It's been nice and all that, but I really have to get back. Maybe I'll see you around, kid, but let's hope not.” With the snap of his fingers, he was gone, leaving the other to stand there in silence staring at the archangel feather in his one hand and the shimmering blue one in his other.

_______________________________________

_So that's how it started. With a kiss._

It wasn't a romantic kiss. It wasn't even a good kiss if one asked the participants about it. It was a short peck on the lips that was only remarkable for the events that would follow it.


	2. Chapter 1

_Hell_

When Barry returned to hell he was still holding both feathers. One brimming with power, the other ice cold to the touch. 

As a rule of thumb crossroad demons got to keep the personal belongings put in the box, if they wished to do so and in this case Barry most certainly did.

Standing in his room he stared at the two feathers, not really sure what had just happened. The  
hand that held the blue feather was steadily growing colder, while the other tingled with power. 

Suddenly he became aware of noises outside his room. Looking around Barry tried to decide what to do with the two newest additions to his collection. 

His room was medium sized with a king size bed right across the door a chest and a bookshelf on the wall to its left and a huge spanning the right side with all the little knick-knacks and personal belongings he collected on earth over the years. 

The archangel feather would definitely go into the chest, which held all his more powerful items and couldn’t be opened by anyone else. The other feather he stuffed into his pocket as there was a sudden knock on his door. It didn’t radiate enough power for it to alert anyone who didn’t already know it was there.

Making sure any and all trace of angel was gone from the room he calls out. “Come in.”

The door opened to Cisco's and Caitlin’s inquisitive faces.  
“Hey man, where you been? Somebody call you top-side?” was the first thing out of his friends mouth as he came inside and threw himself on Barrys bed.

Barry turned around to see him better as Caitlin came to a stillstand beside him. “Yeah, but it’s been a false alarm. He changed his mind halfway through.”

“That sucks. One more and you would have broken your and our previous record. Would have made us employees of the month a little earlier this year.”

Caitlin rolled her eyes beside him. “ Really Cisco, is that the only thing you think about? You have been bugging me about this all morning.”

The demon in question let himself fall back until he was sprawled all the way across the bed. “ What can I say? I’m an overachiever. And I really want some of this stuff, that’s been thrown in the pot this year.”

The pot was somewhat of tradition between crossroad demons, started out of boredom and rivalry. Every year each team had to add something of value and power and at the end of the term the team with the most deals got to keep everything. Since Barry closed deals faster than everyone else, for the last ten years the pot had gone to them. And it already looked like this year would be no exception.

Barry laughed before making his way over to the bed and flopping down beside his friend.  
“Yeah, yeah, we know, you only mentioned it about a thousand times.” He let himself fall back as well and put his hands in his pockets, clutching the feather inside. 

“Not that I don't mind having you here, but I think I need some peace and quiet after the exciting adventure of not closing a deal.” With another laugh he pushed Cisco up.

Caitlin grabbed him by the hand and dragged him from the room. “Don’t stay in here too long. We want to celebrate our successful week, “ was the last thing she said, before closing the door behind her.

Barry waited until their footsteps faded, before pulling the feather out and examining it again. Once more it shimmered in different hues of blue. Combined with the cold it exuded, it reminded him of a winter’s day. Closing his eyes he could almost see the winter scene before him. Holding the feather closer to his face, he could almost smell the crisp cold air and the feeling of the first snowflakes on his face. Without meaning to, he started to smile contentedly.

Barry had always loved earth’s winter. Choosing to walk around top-side whenever he had a chance. At this point he was known to even snatch a few deals away from Cisco and Caitlin if they happened during the cold season.

Snapping them open again he held the feather higher up over his head. Great, know he was even more intrigued and definitely wanted to see the angel again. It didn’t help that the other wasn't exactly bad-looking and had obviously responded with humor and interest to his flirtations. 

At that moment he realized, that he didn't even know the name of the other and therefore had no chance to find him on his own again. Asking around would only raise suspicion, so he had to hope that their paths would cross again. Until then, he just had to content himself with this substitute. 

Smiling he put the feather back in his pocket.

______________________________________

_Heaven / Same time_

Len’s return to heaven was rather uneventful. With the exception of Lisa waiting anxiously for him in the living room, only to storm off two minutes later when he refused to tell her what had kept him so long. 

He knew she would be back to pester him about it sooner or later, but for now he sent a quick message out, letting the angels know that their soul wasn't in heaven and neither, as far as his informant knew, anywhere on earth. He attached a demand to contact him as soon as they found it or before anyone higher up the chain made their rounds, whichever came first. 

With that done he retreated to his own room. Eager for some peace and quiet to sort his thoughts concerning the events of the day. 

Closing the door behind him, Len got rid of his shoes and socks, soaking up the cold from the floor below. They didn't name him the angel of winter for nothing. He kept his room spare and so apart from a desk at the right wall that was always neatly organized, there was only a king-sized bed and a small closet on the other side. The closet contained all the clothes Len had grown attached to during longer stays on earth. A winter coat, some shirts that held some sentimental value and memories. 

Laying down on the bed slowly he started sorting his thoughts out. 

It wasn't the first time he had come into contact with demons, but it had been the first time he had actually somewhat enjoyed the exchange. And from the way the exchange went he hadn't been the only one that had had some fun during their deal. He wasn't stupid or arrogant enough to think that everyone on the opposing side was a cold-hearted murderer and sadist, but he was prepared to deal with someone like that today.

Seems, he'd gotten lucky. Len didn't know the name of the demon he'd dealt with, but he did know how to summon him now and while he probably wouldn't purposely seek him out again, who knew, maybe they would see each other again sometime. He wasn't sure about the other, but Len wouldn't mind the chance to talk to the kid again.


	3. Chapter 2

_Earth / Two weeks later_

The next time Len was on Earth, wasn't his own decision either. Once again he had to bail someone out of trouble and once again he had to hear Lisa read him the riot act over it. This time though it had been someone from his own team, therefore leaving him no other choice but to act immediately. 

The angels of mischief were usually quite fun to be around and the trouble they caused was easily regulated. This time though, locked in a competition to show who was better, Jesse and Axel had really outdone themselves. 

They usually spent a lot of their time down on earth instead of upstairs tricking people and giving them their just deserts, which usually posed no problem as it didn't interfere with heavens business and didn't lose them any souls. Bad people had already made bad decisions before the angels came along, so their souls were marked down in hellos book. The worst that could happen was that people got so scared that they repented for their sins, which in turn might mean a soul more for heaven instead. So all in all, the higher-ups just let them be.

Not in this case though. This time they had managed to drive a guy into signing a soul deal to get them off their back. Normally this would mean that the demon responsible had to handle either the relocation or the elimination of the threat. Since the threat in this case was an angel, or rather two angels, things got complicated and Len had to get called in before a war could be started.

This meant summoning the demon in question and asking them to revoke the deal before it was marked down. And Len already knew the guy in question. So once again, he found himself in the middle of fucking nowhere, burying a box under a street sign. 

At least this time he knew what to expect. Taking a seat on the stone once again, he unwrapped a burger and waited. 

As soon as the familiar lanky form stepped out from behind a tree, Len grabbed another Burger from his bag and held it up. He’d decided to skip the formalities this time, not only because the issue was rather urgent, but also because he liked the other and was actually looking forward to their talk. 

“Fancy meeting you here. You hungry, kid?”

______________________________________

 

Barry was rather surprised to have been summoned again this quickly. He’d only just gotten back an hour ago and while it wasn’t unusual to have more than one meeting in the span of a day it didn’t happen all that often. 

When he arrived at the crossroad, his surprise grew even more as he recognized the figure sitting there, greeting him with food and the words. “Fancy meeting you here. You hungry, kid?”

Barry couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped him at the rather casual greeting. He made his way over and sat on the grass next to the angel. “Why not? Nothing else to do, right now.”

He made it through half the burger in silence before his curiosity got the better of him. “So, what brings you here? Lost another soul? Forgot the way back home after all?” 

He saw the other sigh and put his empty wrapper away. “I’m afraid it’s more complicated than that. I need you to revoke the soul deal you made with the guy from Proctor.”

“You need me to do what?” Barry was on his feet again in no time. “Are you serious? No way! Why would you even think I’d do that?”

“Because you’re a smart guy and you know what will happen when you attack an angel.” was the response.

Now Barry was officially confused. “What are you talking about?” he went quiet for a moment until a sudden realization came to him. “You mean to tell me the things that attacked him were some of your guys?”

The angel winced, before composing himself “Yes, they are and attacking might be a strong word.” He stood up as well. “Look, the guy’s going down anyway. There is no way someone like that will admit his mistakes and repent. It will just take a little longer and in the meantime neither of us started another war. I’m guessing it’s not marked down yet, since hell usually takes ages to get anything done, so no one will be the wiser. Think about it.” 

Barry had to turn away for a moment to compose himself. Unbelievable. It’s not like he actually had a choice in the matter. Either he destroyed the contract or risk a fight. . For a moment he got really pissed off at the other guy. Taking a deep breath, he thrust his hands in his pockets, intending to yank out the contract and throw it at his feet. 

Suddenly his right hand brushed against something cold and his thought came to a sudden stop. he had totally forgotten about the feather he had been carrying around. For a second he wondered if the other could sense it somehow, before deciding that he really didn’t care.

Turning back around again he sighed. Having been yanked out of his anger so quickly made him realize he was blaming the wrong person here. From the sound of it, that other wasn’t any happier about the whole thing than he was and he didn’t have to warn Barry.

He took the scroll and held it out to the other. “How about another deal?”

______________________________________

 

Len stood up and grinned. He knew the other would see things the right way. Happy to have averted the catastrophe he was willing to hear the others demand. “Really? What do you think I could offer you? Or is this just a way to get me to kiss you again?”

He saw the other blush before quickly composing himself. He heard a mumbled “Asshole”, but didn’t really care since the kid had started grinning as well.

“How about your name and a kiss? This is an official deal after all.” 

Now that business was out of the way, the other seemed to relax as well and was starting to flirt with him again. This suited Len just fine, especially since he knew the kid had his feather on him right now. Seemed someone couldn’t let go of him. 

“How can I refuse a deal like that? The name is Len and maybe this time you could try to kiss less like your mother and more like you mean it.”

The kid didn’t get out more than a “Hey”, before Len’s lips were on his. Taking by surprise he needed a moment to react before finally kissing back. Pressing closer Len put a hand on the kids cheek and wrapped his other arm around him so that his hand rested on his back.

Judging by the enthusiasm displayed the other was all game. After another moment Len licked across his bottom lip before taking a step back and watching the other chasing after the feeling for a moment. 

“Barry” were the first words spoken after the demon had taken a step back and for just a moment Len wondered if it was possible for someone like him to have a stroke. Then he realized what the other meant.

“Well, nice to meet you, Barry. It was a pleasure doing business with you...again.”  
He took the scroll from the other and watched it go up in flames, before speaking again.  
“I’ll have to get going, now, “ he took another step back,” but it would be my pleasure to do business again with you in the future.” He let his eyes wander over the body in front of him, before looking back up. 

“Keep good care of those feathers for me. You never know when you might need it.” With that he was gone.

______________________________________

 

Barry stood in the middle of the crossroad, staring at the spot where Len had just vanished. One of his hands touched the spot where the other had just kissed him, while the other clutched the second feather now in his possession. Damn, he was so screwed.


	4. Chapter 3

_Hell / Four months later_

Barry sat in his room staring at the bundle of feathers in his hand. All of them ice blue and all of them currently chilling his hands and forearms. 

Over the curse of the last months he and Len had met time and time again. It had become their idea of dating, weird as it might sound. Len would turn up and summon him. Sometimes they would eat, sometimes just talk. Every time they would make out, before finishing the whole thing with a kiss and deciding on a new timeframe for the next summoning. 

He hadn’t yet figured out why the angel kept leaving him with a feather every time, but Barry liked it. Maybe that was the reason? It didn’t matter in the end, Barry usually kept them in the chest in his room. All except the first feather, which would always be on his person. At this point though, the demon kept wondering if the feathers just magically regrew or if his boyfriend was slowly getting some kind of hole or bald spot. He hadn’t seen the actual wings, but asked himself what the people in his garrison would say or think when they saw it.

Maybe Barry should think of something he could leave behind too? Something personal that Len could remember him by up there. He would need to figure something out, that the angel would like before they next met.

He tried to remember if Len ever mentioned anything to him, but his thought kept wandering back to the last time they met. 

______________________________________

_Earth / Three weeks earlier_

_Barry had had a really stressful week, so he was pleasantly surprised when he got the summoning call, only to find Len sitting there with a bag of burgers and some milkshakes._

_“Hello there stranger, what can I do for your soul today?” With a grin he walked to the stone and made himself comfortable in the grass._

_Barry wasn’t concerned about anyone witnessing their little meetups. Potential clients would see that the crossroad wasn’t empty and would come back later. Demons wouldn’t even make the trip. Too far out, too boring and nothing of importance for miles and miles._

_Grabbing a milkshake he shuffled around and leaned back until his back was resting comfortably against Len’s front._

_“And what exactly do you think you’re doing?” was the answer to that move. Hearing the smile on the others face, he leaned his head back so he could see Len’s face better. His reward was a quick peck on the lips for his effort._

_“What does it look like?” He grabbed himself a burger and took a big bite from it. “Man, these are seriously the best.” Just as he was about to take another bite, a hand suddenly caught his arm and pulled up._

_Before he could protest Len had taken a bite of his burger. “Hey, that's mine. ..”_

_He had intended to say more, had a full rant in his head about the sacredness of food and all that, when he was suddenly silenced by a tongue licking the ketchup from his wrist, where it had dropped from the burger._

_“Something you want to add?” came the reply and oh, Barry could just heat the grin the other was sporting._

_“How about a deal? I'll let you off the hook for stealing and you'll show me how grateful you are for my endless and immense kindness and no forgiveness.”_

_That earned him and no laugh. “You drive and no hard bargain, but I'll accept. Best we seal this deal quickly, before I change my mind.”_

_With that he grabbed Barry by the arm and pulled until he was turned around, now practically sitting in the other's lap. With a snap, the food was gone._

_Barry used the chance to crawl forward on his knees, closing the last few inches of space between them and making himself more comfortable. He felt hands on both sides of his face and was suddenly drawn into a kiss._

His eyes fluttered shut at the kiss grew more intense and his own hands, that had clutched his boyfriend's hips, slowly moved up and under his shirt, skimming over his muscles and letting out a small chuckle when he felt the other twitch. 

_Len used that chance to slip his tongue inside, exploring his mouth and encouraging Barry to do the same._

_Suddenly the kiss stopped and Barry opened his eyes, only to moan again, when that talented mouth started to suck on his neck. Not wanting to be outdone he moved his own hands to Len’s nipples. Slowly pinching and rubbing them, eliciting some delicious noises._

_Len stopped giving attention to his neck and moved up to kiss his mouth again, while his hand slowly moved lower to his waistband, before slipping inside…._

Barry suddenly shook himself and pressed his face into the feathers to cool himself down. He had to stop thinking about that day or he’d never get anything done.

Sighing he stood up and put all but one away again. Time to find the others and find out how their week had been.

He made his way to the door, before casting one last look around the room to make sure nothing was out of place. 

Closing the door he was on his way to the common room. If he managed it right, maybe he could get Caitlin or Cisco to give him an idea on what to give Len without them figuring out what his intentions were.

 

______________________________________

 

Barry made his way into the room and sat across from Caitlin, who was engrossed in some documents and didn’t pay him any attention.

He was just about to ask her where Cisco was, when the door suddenly banged open.

”Guys, we got a major problem.” Cisco was running into their meeting room, completely out of breath, with a tablet clutched in one hand and the parchment for a soul deal in the other. He looked panicked as he waved the paper around.

Barry and Caitlin both turned toward him, trying to figure out what could have their friend so frantic.

“Calm down. What's going on?” 

“I just talked to Jesse down in administrations and he told me that some of the soul deals he marked down are missing. They were only empty sheets in the archive and the souls are now destined for heaven.” Barry could only gape at Cisco while Caitlin hurried over their friend to take a look herself.

“I can’t believe it, they really are empty. What's going on?” She had made her way over to the table and spread the papers out in front of her.

“Jesse said that nobody knows about it yet, but he will have to notify someone soon. Guys, those were some of our deals.”

Now Barry was even more shocked. This could get them in serious trouble. They had to find out what happened before it got reported. The higher-ups wouldn’t care that neither of them had anything to do with the lost souls, they would just see their names on the contracts and assume the three of them had screwed them over to get higher up on the ladder.

“Calm down, we can’t do anything right now, except try to figure out what happened and who did it. I’ll ask around, see if any of my contacts know anything. You guys stay here and keep your ears open.” Barry looked at them, trying to project a calm he didn’t really feel.

“Are you sure, that’s a wise idea? How do you know you can trust these guys?” Cisco still looked anxious, but there was also a hint of eagerness in his expression. Now that the initial panic had faded in the face of Barry’s plan, he seemed eager to figure this out.

“Trust me, I’m sure, they won’t betray us.” He looked at them. “We’ll figure this out, okay?” They both nodded.

Grabbing the feather on his jeans pocket tight and letting it calm him even more, he made his way to earth. They would figure this out.


	5. Chapter 4

_Heaven / Same Time_

Len was not happy as he stood in the middle of the common room, Mick to his right and Lisa to his left, while listening to the younger angels panicking. And to think his day had started out so well. He’d actually got all his work done the night before and was therefore able to spend most of the night and early morning with Mick and Lisa reminiscing about old times and all the shit they pulled. After a few hours of quiet he had managed to check in with the rest of his team.

Everything had been going so well and they only had had good things to report, when he had gotten the request for help in the form of several younger angels bursting in, crying and talking way too fast.

Len stood up from his seat at the table and turned around to face them. He was barely aware of Mick and Lisa coming up to join him, drawn by the commotion.

"Shut up!" It seemed like his partner had enough. Mick took a step forward, which immediately caused the angels to quiet down. Even though he was the angel of summer and therefore usually associated with warm days and sunshine, Mick should have been more aptly named as the angel of heatwaves and forest fires. Normally a nice guy, he tended to suddenly burn rather hot when something grated on his temper.

“You!” Mick pointed at one of the angels that had interrupted their quiet day:”Talk! The rest of you, sit down and keep quiet.”

It took the angel three tries before he could get the words out without stuttering or crying.

“I-Its missing. The.. The book, i-it’s missing a page….” The tension was noticeably rising in the room. Len seriously hoped that he misheard. “T-The book of s-souls, is missing a page…” And here the crying started again.

This couldn’t be happening. How in the world was that even possible? And to think he had such high hopes for this day.

Behind him he could feel Len and Mick tense even more. 

The book of souls was one of heaven’s most precious treasures. It contained the name of every soul that entered heaven. As soon as they were marked down, they were officially registered in heaven. The loss of a soul whose name was written in a book meant severe punishment.

A missing page changed things. Not only had the thief now control over the souls, he also could remove them from heaven without anyone being the wiser. Len wasn’t sure how anyone could have done that, but he was sure that the consequences would be grave. He was actually surprised that they hadn’t all been summoned yet to be questioned, before a thorough search of heaven would commence.

Heaven forbid the page somehow got down to earth or landed in hell’s hand. A breach of security like that would neither be forgotten nor forgiven.

It suddenly occurred to Len that it was more than weird, that the only ones panicking were currently in this room. Lisa and Mick seemed to reach the same conclusion as they both suddenly turned towards him.

“What the hell is-”  
“What is going on-”

They started at the same time, only to stop and turn back to the younger angels.

“How did you find out about the page in the first place, if no one else seems alarmed?” Mick took the initiative to find out what was going on.

Suddenly there was silence and a lot of red faces. “We just wanted to take a look at the book:”, “Everyone does it.” and “It’s like a tradition” were the mumbled phrases.

Len was really glad that his rogues were usually the first contact for young angels in trouble, since he now had the unique chance to stop this from biting them all in the ass. 

He knew, he had to figure out what was going on and only had a limited frame of time for doing so, but this meant that he could also do it quietly and without restrictions. Once the fact came out, all of them would be under observation and that was it. Nothing he could do anymore. 

Now he just had to figure out how to keep the kids quiet. 

“This is how we’re going to do it. We’ll handle the missing pages, while you guys will be spending some quality time with some of my team.” He ignored the shocked looks he received from the three of them and turned around. 

“Okay, we need to figure out what to do and fast. You with me on this?”They both nodded their heads, although Len could see in Lisa’s eyes that there would be a discussion later.

“Mick, take them to Axel and Jesse. I’ll think of an excuse for their absence and we’ll meet here right after.” He waited until the other nodded in confirmation and escorted the others out, before turning to Lisa.

“Sending them away? You don’t think that’ll look suspicious? What if they took the page?” Len raised an eyebrow at her and she sighed. “ Okay, maybe not them.”

“Look, we can talk about all of that as soon as I get back, okay?” He waited until she sighed again, a sure sign that she had given up, at least for now, before he made his way out the door.

He was barely ten feet away, before he heard a voice calling out to him. Now it was his turn to sigh. “Are you kidding me? Seriously? Now?” Well, there was no way around it, he had to answer the call. It sounded really distressed and he still needed time to come up with a plausible explanation anyway.


	6. Chapter 5

_Earth_

Barry was kneeling on the ground, hands clasped together in front of him, when an amused voice sounded behind him. “Are you actually praying right now?” 

He turned around and slowly made his way back to his feet. At least something was going right today. Barry hadn’t been sure how he’d get in contact with an angel, since there  
were no official summonings for their kind, so he had to rely on the myths and rumors that made the rounds in hell.

After he tried to burn one of the feathers and carved Lens name in the ground in enochian, the language of all angels, he had tried to pray to his boyfriend as a last ditch effort. it was rumored that God had wanted to establish a connection between his twice most cherished creations and that every angel could hear the prayer of humans as long as they used their names somewhere in them. Apparently, this one was actually true.

“I can’t believe that really worked. I was this close to finding some human and have them pray for me.” He made his way over to Len and dropped a quick kiss on his lips. “I’m really happy you came. I need your help.”

Len grinned at his explanation. If Barry thought about it long enough, he could see the humor in the situation as well: A demon praying to an angel, that had to be the beginning of a good joke somewhere. Then Len’s expression turned serious. “I don’t have much time, since I have a few issues of my own that I need to sort out, but I’ll see what I can do. What is the matter, kid?”

Barry sighed. “We have a huge problem.” He was still full of adrenaline from Cisco's discovery and the impending consequences for their group, but Len’s presence alone managed to calm him down somewhat. “Someone’s been messing with our soul deals. Turns out a lot of contracts are suddenly missing and therefore those souls are now lost to hell as well. This is a catastrophe.”

He looked at Len only to see the other's eyes widen, before they suddenly narrowed. He was about to ask what the problem was, but the other was quicker. 

“How long ago did you find out? Does anybody else know yet?” Len sounded like he knew more than Barry did and that made him suspicious. 

“Just this morning….why? What are you not telling me?” And there went Barry’s newfound calm.

“Okay listen, maybe it’s nothing, but hell’s not the only one who’s missing some souls right now” Len took a step forward and put a hand on Barry’s arm. The demon wasn’t really sure if it was meant to comfort him or if the other was trying to comfort himself. Either way, he was not reassured.

“You think there might be a connection between the two events?” If that was true, then it had all the makings of a catastrophe of epic proportions. At this point he wished Len would tell him that he only made a joke.

“If I think about everything that happened in the last few weeks, I think this might not have been the first time either. There have been a few incidences in the last week where a soul vanished, but they always turned up again. Up until now, I thought the younger angels were just being careless, but now….” He paused as if to consider his next words. “There might be a chance that someone was actually trying to find a way to steal them. As the saying goes: One’s an incident, two’s a coincidence, three’s a pattern” 

His boyfriend’s face portrayed a mixture of curiosity and anger at this turn of events, while Barry could only feel anxiety and an inkling of horror over the implications. There went his hopes for an easy solution. 

 

______________________________________

 

Len knew that they had to figure out what was going on and they had to do it fast. From the moment Barry had told him about the trouble in hell his mind had been working overtime trying to connect all the dots. There had to be some kind of connection here, something he didn’t see yet. the incidents were to close timewise and to similar in nature to be anything but related.

The question was if someone was doing this on purpose, how many of them were there. There was no way that a single being could manipulate things in heaven as well as hell. How were they communicating and most importantly, what was their motive?

Before he could come up with a plan though, there was something he had to know first. “You never answered my question.” Barry cast him a confused look. “Does anybody else know about this?”

He saw Barry shake his head. “Jesse knows, but he didn’t notify anyone yet. It’s only a matter of time before he has to let anyone else know.” 

That meant they had time to do something, before the whole thing blew up in everyone’s face. Small mercies. “Okay listen, here is what we’ll do. You’ll go back down and try to find out as much as you can. We need to know who had access to the scrolls and who might be able to pull something like that off without anyone noticing.” 

He waited for Barry to nod before continuing.

“Keep your ears open for any major changes that happened down there as well. Anyone that’s gotten surprisingly lucky or who complained more than usual. I’ll do the same upstairs.” 

He closed the distance between them and put his hands on both sides of Barry's face, when he saw how anxious the other still seemed to be.. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out. Nothing’s going to happen to you. If we can’t stop it then we’ll get you out and into hiding until it all blows over.” Barry seemed to relax at his words and nodded.

He kissed him gently on the lips, before pulling him in his arms. “You trust me?”  
He felt the nod against the side of his face. “Then trust, that we’ll get through this together.”

He let go of the kid and took a step back. “We’ll meet again in two days to exchange our information. Meeting place is the bar two streets down from here. That way there’ll be enough people around if we have to make a quick get-away. If anything important happens before that, you know how to reach me.”

After he was done he reached behind him. This was not something that Barr had witnessed before, but it was part of their ritual and Len knew it might calm him down and would remind him of the promise just made.

He grabbed one of his feathers and with a slight wince pulled it out, making it appear in a corporal form. 

Barry watched the whole process with wide eyes, up to the point where Len took his right hand and put the feather in his palm, before closing the fingers gently.

“I’ll see you soon.” With that he was gone, leaving a stunned, but calmer Barry in the middle of the road.


	7. Chapter 6

_Heaven_

The room of souls was usually heavily locked with several different spells that couldn’t be undone without leaving a signature essence of oneself behind. It was how heaven ensured the safety of the books of souls.

The younger angels thought there were being sneaky when they slipped inside to take a look, but that dare was as old as time itself and everyone was well aware of it, no matter what the little kids thought. It was tolerated, since they didn’t do any damage and since their identity was always on record.

Heaven assumed this method to be fool-proof. In actuality it wasn’t. Apart from the highest ranking angels, there were probably only a select few who knew how the system operated and could get inside without leaving their identification at the door.

Len was one of the select few who had the means to enter the room this way. It had taken a lot of research, the calling in of some favors and the acquirement of a few artifacts. But there was barely a door in heaven he couldn’t get through by now. This one included. 

With this knowledge in mind, Len also knew that the list of suspects was rather short. The only problem was that he didn’t know for sure who belonged on it. 

With the help of Lisa and Mick though, he was able to figure out most of the players in this game and hadn’t that been a fun conversation.

______________________________________

 

_Len had barely managed to set foot in the common room, when he was already ambushed by Lisa and Mick who had obviously already been waiting for him._

_“Sit down. We want to know what’s going on here, right now.” Lisa was the first to talk, sounding worried and annoyed at the same time. She gestured to an empty chair right across from her and Mick._

_Once Len was seated he looked them both in the eye, before recounting everything that had happened in the last few months. He was careful to edit out anything concerning the details of his and Barry’s relationship, letting them think he was some random informant that he traded information with from time to time._

_Since Len was known for what his team called “an obsessive need for information and details” about everything major happening in all the realms they seemed to buy this part of his story.  
He could see them both getting ready to interject several times throughout his tales and made sure not to make any long breaks in his speech, not in the mood to be interrupted until it was all out._

_When he got to the end, detailing the conclusions he’d drawn so far he was met with shocked silence._

_“I can’t believe this shit. What are we gonna do now, boss?” This time it was Mick who spoke first. Len noticed that he didn’t question Len’s ideas about the soul-snatching and neither did Lisa. He was once again glad for the trust the members of his garrison placed in his abilities to draw the right conclusions and always be one step ahead._

_“Is there anything we actually can do without drawing attention to ourselves or the missing page?” Lisa sounded concerned and she had every right to be. She probably wouldn’t like this next part.”_

_“Right now, we can’t do much more than snoop around, see if anyone stands out. Problem is, we have to do it without drawing attention to ourselves. The way I figure it, our best bet is to make a list of everyone we can think of that is able and willing to do something like this. Then you can go and try to ask around if anything stood out the past few weeks.” He saw Mick nod._

_Lisa didn’t reply immediately, looking at him a second longer, frowning. Here it came. “You said ‘you’, not ‘we’. What are you going to do while we are information-hunting?”_

_Len steeled himself, before responding. “I’m going to sneak in and take a look at the room.“_

_“Are you serious?” Lisa’s voice was deadly calm. Never a good sign. He had to defuse the situation and fast or they would lose valuable time to the ensuing discussion._

_“Listen, I know you don’t like it and I wouldn’t do it if I had the choice so if you have another idea, Id be willing to try that. I just want to prevent another war and I’m the only one right now who knows how to get in undetected.” Lisa looked like she wanted to say something else, so he took her hand and quickly added. “I’ll promise I’ll be careful, okay? And if anything happens I’ll call in you right away.”_

_Lisa still didn’t look happy, but she nodded, before looking at Mick. The other angel had been quiet during their exchange, knowing better than to butt in when Lisa was gearing up for a fight with their leader. “Fine, if we’re all in, let’s start with the list.” She turned back to Len. “The sooner we get this figured out, the sooner we can go back to normalcy.”_

 

______________________________________

 

They had ended up with ten names, before parting ways. Lisa and Mick mingling with the other angels, while Len made his way into the room of souls in the hopes of finding any kind of hint as to who their perpetrator was.

Getting into the room had required some preparations. He started by focusing and pulling his entire essence inside, trying to mask it as much as possible. Making sure he was as concealed as possible he used the helm of Darkness to mask the rest if him completely.  
It was one of several artifacts he had picked up, traded or bought over the centuries.

While heaven and hell usually saw themselves as the one true religion, as the highest power in the universe, even they couldn’t refute the existence of other gods in the different cultures on earth. If there would ever be a showdown between all of them, nobody could say for sure who would come out on top, but it was believed that they would probably win through sheer force of numbers and the faith placed in them. 

Faith was power and over the years that faith in other gods like the Norse or the Greek had diminished as less and less people made sacrifices or prayed to them. That didn’t make their artifacts any less powerful though and Len was an avid believer in utilizing all the advantages available to him, no matter their origin.

That said he made sure he had some of the water of Lethe as well as the thread of Ariadne with him. The water would help to conceal that everyone had ever entered the room by making the door ‘forget’ it ever opened, while the thread made sure he could still get out afterwards. 

Finished with his preparations he made his way towards the room, making sure no one was around to witness his little break-in. 

Once inside Len took a look around. In the middle of the completely white room was the pedestal containing the stand with the current book. Behind it he could see the doorway arch to the archives. He could see rows upon rows of shelves filled with books in the same white color as the one before him. 

He slowly made his way forward until he reached the stand. Carefully he flipped through it until he found the missing page. Whoever had done it, had tried to be careful, but there was still residue visible. 

In a snap decision Len carefully removed the bits and pieces until the missing page was hardly noticeable anymore. Maybe this could buy them some time. Having made sure, that there was no other trace of their thief he made his way to the archive, moving through the rows of books to see if he could find anything else. 

He made it to the third row until he noticed a gap in between the books. With wide eyes he made his way over to the shelf, not actually able to believe that someone had dared to steal a whole volume. 

Len was about the inspect the spot closer when he heard a noise in the other room. Someone was actually on their way over here. In his haste to get deeper inside Len barely noticed when he nicked himself on the edge of the shelf, leaving a small trail of his essence behind. 

He waited with baited breath as the person made his way over to the spot he had stood mere moments before. Suddenly he heard a low voice mumbling: “Well, what do we have here?” Another moment of silence accompanied by the noise of something stroking the wood, until: “Seems like someone’s been snooping around.” Len heard the person sniff, probably at his hand. “Interesting, looks like I’ll have something else to do today.”

Len barely dared to breathe. He was sure the other couldn’t identify him by the amount of essence alone, but there were ways to find the source if one had the means or the time for it. 

He heard the other turn around and leave, not daring to move until he heard the door close. Once it was quiet again he slowly sank to the floor. For the first time in a long while he allowed himself to curse long and loudly. “Dammit, shit, shit, shit, fuck it.”

Len waited another half an hour before he slowly made his way back to the other. He tried to be as careful as possible, looking over his shoulder every three minutes to make sure he wasn’t followed. 

Once inside he sat down on the couch, relieved that Lisa and Mick hadn’t made it back yet. He needed some time to catch his breath and figure out what to do next. One thing was for sure, he had to tread very carefully from now on, since he would probably be under observation real soon.

Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and cursed everything and everyone once again. Of all the angels, did it have to be Hunter fucking Zolomon?


	8. Chapter 7

_Hell // At the same time_

Barry returned slowly to the others. He was still trying to figure out who could be behind all of this and if it was really all connected. When he returned to his room, Caitlin was sitting on his bed surrounded by piles of books while Cisco paced around nervously, muttering to himself. 

“How did it go? They have anything for you?” Cisco was the first to react to his presence and he instantly made his way over with a hopeful look on his face.

Barry looked at him and sighed. “Give me a moment, okay?” He didn’t wait for an answer, before he made his way over to his bed. Caitlin had cleared some space for him and Barry used it to lie down and close his eyes for a moment.

After taking a few deep breaths he sat up again. “I talked to my informant and they said they'd ask around.”

Caitlin nudged him with her shoulder. “If that is all, then why do you look like the world is about to end?”

Barry looked first at her and then at Cisco who had sat down on the floor in front of him. “We’re trying to keep it on the down low for now, but he heard from another one of his contacts that something similar might have happened in heaven…..more than once.” 

Caitlin looked absolutely shocked, while Cisco gasped. “You think there might be a connection?”

“We’re not sure, he asked me to keep my ears open, while he gathered some information and to meet up again.” When he was finished, Barry flopped back onto the bed, suddenly feeling tired from all the adrenaline his talk with Len had produced. “So, you guys had any luck so far?”

Cisco made his way up into the bed, forcing Caitlin to put some of her books on the floor, before talking. “Not a lot yet, there aren’t a lot of people that have access to the files, but the list still contains quite a few names, some of them a lot higher up in the ranks than we are.”

“So basically, we have nothing. Did Jesse have any more info for us?”

They both shook their heads. “The only thing he could tell us, was that whoever did it, didn’t trigger any of the alarms and that it had to happen during one of his meetings with the king. It’s the only time Jesse isn’t in the archives.” 

Caitlin seemingly took over for Cisco. “He did mention that he might have a way to identify the thief though. Some old ritual or spell. I’m not really. He just said that he’d put the results into the usual spot once he had them.”

The usual spot was an old hiding place behind some bricks in one of the older hallways where they used to leave some earth contraband, usually in the form of sweets and fast food. While not exactly forbidden, down in hell, such things were definitely frowned upon. It had been a fun little game for the four of them to ‘smuggle’ things for each other. 

 

They sat in silence for a while until there was suddenly noise outside. They could hear several demons shouting, some sounded angry, some just confused.

Suddenly there was a knock on Barry’s door. Without waiting for a signal of acknowledgment or approval the door swung upon. 

One of the lesser demons, whose name Barry kept forgetting, stuck his head inside.  
“ You guys hear the news yet?” 

Barry, Cisco and Caitlin shook their heads, causing the guy to continue. “Someone’s been decapitated. Heard it was the guy from the archives. They’re calling all the bosses in for an emergency meeting.” With that he was gone again, leaving the three crossroad demons to stare at the door in shock.

Cisco was the first who found his voice again. “That-that can’t be true, can it?” Neither Barry nor Caitlin were able to answer him. “Do you think, this had something to do with the thing Jesse was researching? Does that make it our fault?”

Caitlin leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, no, we can’t think like this. We all liked Jesse, but we don’t know yet, who did that. And even if it had something to do with his research that was Jesse’s own decision not ours.”

Barry had not been able to speak yet, to overcome for a moment by shock and grief. At his friend's words, something hardened inside him. “We’ll get whoever was behind this. We just have to figure out if it is somehow related to the missing deals. If yes, we just have to act accordingly, since the rest of hell could find out about them much quicker. Let’ me check the spot first and then we’ll go from there.” He stood up and gave them a reassuring look. “ I’ll be back soon and then we’ll see what happens next. 

With that he left the room to make his way over to the old corridor. 

It quickly became apparent that Jesse had been on his way to or from the place Barry was headed since he had to take a few detours to avoid running into the crowd of demons that had gathered at the scene of the murder. 

Finally at his destination he noticed that the bricks had been disturbed recently. Taking a look inside he saw a little piece of paper that had apparently been ripped off from some kind of document. It looked as if someone had been in a hurry to remove whatever had been inside and left the little piece by accident. 

Taking it out and replacing the bricks, Barry took a look at the letters he could see on it. If he still relied on a beating heart, he was sure, he would have a heart attack right about now. 

Suddenly there was a noise behind him. Barry hurried around the next corner, pressing himself against the wall before slowly inching farther away. Behind him he could hear the bricks being removed again and a muttered curse. He knew he had to get out of here. 

Bad enough that the demon had followed him this far without Barry noticing, but being caught now would probably result in his death. As it was it was probably only a matter of time, before the other found out who else had known about this little secret hideaway. 

Making his way around the next corner, Barry started to run back to the others, the piece of parchment with the letters -rd Wells still tightly clutched in his hand.


	9. Chapter 7

_Earth // Two days later_

Cisco was so not prepared for this. After the catastrophe two days ago and Barry’s subsequent discovery of their thief had led him to confess just what his secret informant actually was. Well, if Cisco was honest with himself it had more to do with the fact that there might be a slight chance that Eobard had already figured out who had beat him to the scrap of paper and was keeping an eye on their friend. 

With that in mind, there was absolutely no way Barry could have made it to earth without raising suspicion, so by popular vote, meaning Caitlin as their research specialist absolutely refused to go since she was more valuable to them down there than up here, Cisco got sent as a replacement.

He still couldn’t believe Barry traded information with an angel. How does something like that even happen? His friend had been rather vague on the subject, citing urgency and non-relevance as main points, but once this was all over Cisco was getting the whole story, not just the cliff-notes.

So here he was, sitting in a bar close to Barry’s favorite crossroad waiting for someone he only had a description of. And not a good one at that. It had started with a general description of brown hair and light blue eyes, followed by tall and lean and always wearing blue sneakers of some kind, but after that it became kind of weird. Suddenly his friend was using words like friendly and kinda intense and always calm. 

How was one supposed to even look for stuff like that? And on that note, why would you describe someone that way while looking like you were totally broken up that you couldn’t go yourself? Cisco was definitely getting the whole story after this was all over.

He’d been sitting there for fifteen minutes now, nursing his Coke, but the mysterious Len that he was waiting for still hadn’t shown up. The only thing even close to the description was someone two chairs down from him in a pair of blue sneakers with brown hair and what looked like blue eyes. But the guy was wearing a green hoodie and wasn’t nearly as tall as Barry had described him. 

Apart from that he looked neither friendly nor calm. Cisco might have described him as intense, as intensely annoyed in fact. There was a glass of water in front of him and kept looking around, sometimes sneaking glances as Cisco’s red sneakers, forced upon him by Barry, before looking at the rest of him and turning away. 

Well, the guy did look kinda cute and Cisco was bored out of his mind. A little conversation couldn’t hurt while he passed the time, right?

With that in mind he grabbed his coke and moved down the row of chairs to greet the stranger. “You mind a little company?”

 

______________________________________

 

Hartley was rather annoyed. Not at his reason for being here. He could understand that Len couldn’t leave heaven right now without gaining the attention of Zolomon, which would be but for all of them. No, he was annoyed because the contact Hartley was supposed to meet down here, hadn’t shown up yet.

He’d rather be up there helping with the planning instead of down here wasting his time. Wasting his time waiting for a demon no less. Lisa had blown a fuse when she had heard about it and hadn’t that conversation been fun. Okay, maybe not for Len, but the Mick and Hartley had had a hard time not laughing as they watched their fearless leader get chewed out.

But back to his problem at hand. He’d been sent down with a description of who to watch. A rather oddly one at that. It had started with the brown hair and green eyes, the lanky built and the red sneakers the demon always seemed to wear. After that it had gotten rather weird. Suddenly there was a description of the moles in his face and how long his fingers were. Weird.

The problem was that no one hear really matched that description There was a guy to the left of him with a pair of sneakers that matched the description, but that was all. He’d give it another ten minutes and then he’d leave. 

Suddenly the guy was standing right next to him, grin on his face. “You mind a little company?”

Hartley might have been on a mission, but who was he to turn down a cute guy, trying to chat him up? He could still leave once his contact did or didn’t arrive soon. “Sure, take a seat. Don’t have much else to do.”

“The name’s Cisco, nice to meet you.” He made himself comfortable on the bar stool next to his. “You’ve been waiting for someone?” 

“Hartley and yeah, my boss sent me to deliver something, but the guy didn’t turn up. Figures” He turned around so he was facing Cisco in order to talk more comfortably.

“I know the feeling. That sucks. Been waiting on someone too. Friend of a friend, though now that I had some time to think about it, I suspect there is something more going on. I mean who describes their” and here the guy made quotation marks with his fingers to emphasize his point “ ‘just an acquaintance, really Cisco, nothing more with the words friendly, intense and always so calm.” 

Hartley had to laugh at the other’s antics. The description gave him a little pause though. Time to try something. “I didn’t fare much better. Have to look for some brown haired, blue eyed guy which I can now recognize by the order of the moles in his face and by his long talented fingers.”

Now Cisco was laughing. “He really said that? Long, talented fingers? Man, someone has it bad.”

“I’m guessing that someone is the one you’re looking for, if you’re searching for someone with brown hair, taller than me, that goes by the name of Len.” Hartley was taking a risk here, putting Lens name out like that, but he was pretty sure he was speaking to the right, well technically ‘right’ guy. 

“This kind of thing happens once in a lifetime, right? Both of them sending a stand-in to a highly secretive meeting only for them to sit ten feet away from each other without noticing.” Cisco was still smiling. “Just my luck that they send someone cute.”

“Lucky for you. So, how long before you can get back?” Hartley was blatantly flirting now and didn’t care. the other was obviously interested and they did have information to exchange and time to kill.

“One hour at least before they can even give me the signal. So, how about we take this somewhere else and talk about how an angel and demon obviously totally have the hits for each other?” Cisco emptied his glass and stood next to his bar stool.

“Are we still talking about Len and Barry?” Hartley grinned as he copied the other.

“Depends, an hour is a long time and the information I have, while really important, also not all that much. So, your crossroad or mine?” They had moved out the door while Cisco was still talking.

Hartley had to laugh at the last part. “Are you seriously getting laid with that question? Fine, we’ll settle for yours for now. My information, while also big, probably isn’t much more than yours and after all, we’ve got an hour to pass.”

With that the two of them were off.


	10. Chapter 9

_Heaven / Two weeks later_

Len was pacing in his room. The last weeks had been horrible. The news Hartley had brought with him didn’t bode well for anybody and they needed to figure out how to deal with what was happening.

In order to do that they needed more information. Information about Zolomon and Wells, about their next steps and more importantly about their motives and goals. 

In the last few days Hartley had spent quite a bit of time on earth, meeting with Barry to find out if there was anything new to report. It pained Len that he couldn’t do down himself, but Hartley had assured him that his informant understood the reason and had in fact insisted that he shouldn’t put himself in any danger just to see him. 

It was really sweet how much the other cared. If only there actually was something they could report. 

Mick and Lisa were still spending most of their time in different parts of heaven, talking to angels, while Len was stuck here. At the beginning, he had tried to help them, but it quickly became apparent that Hunter had figured out who had been in the archives that day. While he didn’t openly threaten or attack him, the other angel suddenly appeared everywhere Len went.

It had gotten to a point where Lisa had forced him to stay in their part of heaven where several wards had been placed to keep anyone with malevolent intentions out. So far it had worked, though Len wasn’t sure what time frame the angel was working on. 

Sooner or later he had to take care of any loose ends and Len was just that. He could only hope that when the time came that they had a way to take the other out and if not that that destruction wouldn’t extend to the rest of his team.

He was so close to screaming in frustration, not used to be on the sidelines in a situation like this when he heard the others return. Maybe they finally had some useful information and he could start to do what he does best, coming up with the perfect plan(s).

Taking a calming breath, he took a seat on the couch and waited for Mick and Lisa to settle down as well, before he let his curiosity get the better of him. “Did you have any luck? Please tell me you found something we could work with.”

The grim smile the other angels shared let him know that they did actually find anything, but that he really wouldn’t like it.

Lisa was the first one to speak only interrupted by Mick's grunts of confirmation from time to time. “Yeah, there is something, but it’s only a rumor. We heard it from Nate down at the weapon’s storage and you’ll not like it at all.” She made a little pause to take and looked down at her hands, before looking up again. “He said Hunter talked to him a while ago, interested in an old myth that was sometimes shared in their corner. She shared another look with Mick before continuing.

“Apparently there was an angel once, a while after Lucifer fell, that was sure that the incident was the result of a too loose organization and leadership. He therefore thought that the solution to this problem was the appointment of a leader that would bring about some legislative changes that would basically eradicate all free will in heaven. In order to achieve this, the angel sought out power in order to overthrow the archangels as highest ranking beings. To gain that power the angel started to collect souls and…” 

Lisa looked a little sick and Len was starting to suspect where this was heading: “ Let me guess, he devoured them.” He got an affirmative nod from Mick.

“Yeah, Nate said that he managed to absorb about fifty souls before the archangels caught on and annihilated him. Also said that Hunter was real interested in the soul part. Got kind of intense about it even though it was just a myth.”

This sounded…..bad. This sounded really bad. If Hunter and Wells had teamed up and were actually devouring souls than they were far more dangerous than anticipated. They needed a plan to stop them, quickly and quietly. Len wasn’t even questioning the need for that since experience had told them that every one of heaven’s myth always held some truth, no matter what anyone said. 

They could always alarm the higher ranks, but there was a chance that one or both of them had already devoured the stolen souls and an attack could end in a mass slaughter. No, he had to come up with a plan to stop them, ideally at the same time.

They needed a distraction. “Lisa, get Axel or Jesse here.”

Time to contact Barry. 

 

______________________________________

 

_Hell / At the same time_

The last few days had been spent trying to retrace Eobard’s steps. At least that was what Barry and Caitlin had been doing. Okay, Caitlin had actually done all the legwork while Barry had sat in his room putting all her findings up on a board and waiting a whole lot of red string trying to connect everything. 

In retrospect, he probably shouldn’t have tried to analyze everything the demon had done. Barry was sure somewhere between trying to connect the fact that the guy always wore yellow and that his favorite book was Dante’s Inferno, he had lost his mind out of sheer frustration and anxiety.

At least, that’s what it felt like. Caitlin had tried to assure him that he just needed sleep and that Eobard wouldn’t try anything with other demons around. Barry wasn’t so sure.

Cisco had been absent for most of that. Barry envied him the time he got to spend on earth with Len. He wished he could go up and meet with his boyfriend. He just knew that Len would have been able to calm him down.

So far they hadn’t found anything of importance, but Caitlin had been gone a long time and Barry was starting to get nervous. 

There was suddenly noise in front of his door in form of an argument and one minute later Caitlin was coming in, dragging Cisco behind her and holding a bunch of scrolls.

“You will never believe what I found.” She sounded excited and afraid at the same time.

“You mean what we found” came a mumbled response from Cisco that neither demon paid any mind.

“Look at those scrolls.” She basically shoved them in his face, forcing him to grab them and put them on his bed in order to actually look at them. 

Opening one of the scrolls he looked at her confused. “Am I missing something? What am I supposed to see here? They are all empty.”

“Exactly, that’s just it. These are from the archives.” She let go of Cisco and stepped closer to the bed, grabbing one of the scrolls and waving it around. “This one dates back weeks. There are about fifty of them, if not more. Do you know what this means, Barry? This has been going on for weeks, if not months and nobody noticed it. Not until Jesse.”

There was a sudden silence following Caitlin’s explanation, each member of the team suddenly lost in thought about the implications of their discovery. This was so much huger than they could have anticipated.

They needed to get in contact with Len asap. Time to sneak out.


	11. Chapter 10

_Earth_

It was by pure coincidence that six people suddenly appeared at the same crossroad in the middle of nowhere, Minnesota. They made quite the picture standing there in a circle, one of them on his knees, while the one opposite him was holding a feather out in front of him. 

Neither Len nor Barry had intended to bring company, but Caitlin and Cisco were too anxious to stay behind and Mick and Lisa had forced them to take them with him. Why Hartley had insisted on tagging along, Len really wasn’t sure.

These are Mick, Lisa, and Hartly. So, who are your friends, Barry?” He decided someone had to speak in the awkwardness of the situation so he might as well take control of it. 

“My friends?” Barry furrowed his eyebrows. “Well, this is Caitlin and you already know Cisco” He gestured to each of them in turn. 

Now it was Len’s turn to frown. “What are you talking about? I haven't been down here in weeks” He slowly turned around to meet Hartley’s eyes. Hartley, whose gaze was fixed on Cisco and who watched the other with a grin on his face. “Anything you want to tell me, Hartley?”

“Guess the truth is out. No point in hiding it anymore, right Cisco?” The demon in question was grinning as well. 

“What is he talking about?” It took a second but suddenly Barry seemed to understand what was going on. “Does that mean, you’ve been meeting with him all these times instead of Len and didn’t even tell us?”

“Yeah well, it wasn’t really all that important. We only came to trade information. Same as you guys, right?” Hartley looked mischievously at Len and Barry, while Cisco raised an eyebrow suggestively. 

While Len tried to keep an absolute poker face, Barry actually turned a little red. How that kid turned out as a demon Len would never know. As expected Lisa immediately latched onto his slip-up.

“Are you kidding me right now? You and him, Len, seriously? Is that what you’ve been doing all that time down here?” She looked annoyed and Len knew better than to interrupt her. “ Anyone else that wants to confess anything? I can’t believe this.”

Mick was openly laughing at the situation now, obviously finding the whole thing too funny for words. At least someone who didn’t seem to care who all slept with whom in their little circle.

The girl, Caitlin, despite being shocked tried to steer them back to their reason for being here.   
“That’s all very interesting and we should probably discuss this at a later point, but shouldn’t we actually compare information and figure out what’s going on?”

This seemed to sober everyone up really quick, although Lisa’s look promised a talk in their future.

The next thirty minutes consisted of Caitlin and Lisa explaining what they had found out. Usually, Len would do the talking in situations like this, Lisa was the one who discovered the facts, so he let her update everyone. Caitlin just seemed like she wouldn’t anyone talk for her, ever.

Their speeches were only interrupted by gasps of surprise and horror from the various beings in their little circle.

When both of them were done, there was only silence for a while.

 

______________________________________

 

“And now?” came the quiet question from Barry. This was so much worse than he could ever have imagined. He looked at Len who shrugged. Barry didn’t know how he could still look so confident in their abilities to stop this horrific situation.

“Now, we make a plan.” He looked at everyone in turn before continuing. “We don’t know if they actually devoured any souls yet. So there’s nothing we can do on that front without starting a fight or just outright asking them, so we need to stop them otherwise. Anyone got any ideas?”

There was silence until Caitlin spoke. “If they actually charge themselves up by feeding on souls, how about we overcharge them?” 

There were a few confused looks. “ Well, whatever power they gain from eating souls, there are neither an archangel nor a prince of hell, so there body has to have some kind of limit as to the number of souls they can ingest before the power burns them out. It’s the same principle that dictates what artifacts a demon or angel can or can’t handle, right?” She looked at the group, excited by her new idea.”

Cisco took right over. Len’s group obviously wasn’t used to the way the two of them would get lost in one of their hypothesis, but at the same time looked intrigued at their words. “I guess, that could work. We obviously would need an enormous amount of souls though. Where would we even get that many?” 

“We don’t,” came the calm reply. Now everyone was looking at Len again, confused by this sudden turn in the conversation. Barry had to admit even he didn’t know where his boyfriend was going with this.

“We only need to make them think that there is such an amount of them in one place. All we actually need is power. Enough power to burn their essence to the ground. What we need is an illusion, a trick.”

Barry agreed with him. “He’s right. That’s the only way this could actually work. The only problem is, how are we going to get this much power and how will we create the illusion to trick Zolomon as well as Eobard into believing it.” 

“What about the rod of Aaron. That was infused with heavenly power once and has been stored in heaven afterward. It should therefore still be as strong as before, maybe even stronger. If we can get our hands on that and manage to use a convincing illusion of it. Maybe they’ll try to absorb that.” Lisa had a point, but there was something nagging at Barry.

“How do we know that that’ll be enough? What if they absorb all that power and don’t die. Wouldn't that mean we actually gave them the chance to initiate their little revolution earlier?”  
If there weren’t raking all the risks into account this could come back to bite them later. Barry wasn't willing to bet on their side if it came to that.

“Not with this. “ It was the first time Mick had spoken since their meeting started. He instantly had all the attention as the air in his right hand started to shimmer and change, slowly forming a trident until it finally papered on the physical plane. “The trident of Shiva.”

Cisco gasped. “How did you get that? I didn't think that was real.” Everyone could feel the power emanating from the artifact. 

“Long story. Personal. I'd rather not tell, especially around a bunch of strangers.” the trident disappeared again. “Point is, if the rod fails, this is our chance, our only chance of getting rid of them. Problem is that we’ ll have to get close enough to use it.”

“Guess we don't have another choice. The trident will be our plan B. Once it out there’s no hiding it anymore. Everyone in favor of that?”

Len seems to take the ensuing silence and the few head nods he got as confirmation. “What we do need is a good disguise. Something that will fool both parties into believing that there is a huge amount of souls in that artifact and a story to get them here.”

“What about Purgatory?” Everyone turned confused eyes on Cisco.” Well, if they are chasing myths and all that, why don't we sell them Purgatory as the real deal? We only need to start rumors that the rod is actually the key to all those souls that just vanished into the ether. It just needs to be believable enough.”

Barry took the chance to continue. “In order to do that the story can't come from us, we have to make sure enough people outside of our circle mention the rumor to Eobard and Zolomon. Then you guys bring the rod and we will get someone clean enough to draw us the seal of Solomon. Maybe it will bind them long enough to give us an advantage when push comes to shove.”

When Barry looked at the rest he could see the excitement and hope that was starting to grow now that they actually had a plan that might work. “We can also get all the ingredients for the seal and since there won't be a waxing moon in the next two weeks, it will give us enough time to spread our story to the right people.”

ĪLen continued. “If we can all agree on that plan I suggest we get to it. So, off you go.” 

One after the other they all vanished, although Barry could see Lisa giving Len a look that was both exasperation at his antics and warning over the consequences all rolled into one.

Once everyone else was gone, Len slowly walked over to him and drew him into his arms. “Be careful out there, okay?”

Barry could barely nod before he was drawn into a kiss that stole his breath away. It was over way too soon and Barry was left chasing after Len’s lips. With a smirk, the angel gave him another quick peck, before taking a step back and vanishing as well.

Barry was left alone in the crossroad, mumbling “You too” to the spot where Len had stood mere moments ago.


	12. Chapter 11

_Heaven // two weeks later_

Starting the rumors a had been surprisingly easy. One or two bribes to Nate down by the weapons storage and Ray from the archives and soon the rumors were spread all over. Their jobs had made them the ideal candidates due to their location and frequency of visitors they received. 

That had been the easy part. The hard part would be to actually get the rod. Hunter had apparently noticed their little disappearing act. Len hadn't outright seen the other angel around but in the days following their meeting he had a distinct feeling that he was being followed and Len always trusted his feelings.

He didn't know what the other planned, but he knew that they had to get the rod fast and, most importantly, unnoticed if they wanted their plan to work. So they had made a plan. 

A plan in which Lisa was supposed to distract Jesse and draw him away from the door while Len and Mick slipped inside and got the damned thing.

None of them could have anticipated that Hunter took the rumors so seriously and would make a move already. 

The door to the weapons chamber had three corridors leading away from it, each turning a corner about 30 feet down. So there they stood, Lisa and Jesse gone down one way around the corner of the three-way, them around another and Hunter appearing around the one directly opposite from them. Damn. 

Len had to think of something and fast. Time to cause a distraction. He gave Mick the signal to wait, before making his own way into the hall. He could feel Mick's hand trying to hold him back, but he didn't let the other angel deter him. This was their chance and they had to take it.

In order to do so, they had to get Hunter away. Len was the only one with the means to do so right now. Mick still had a job to finish and Lisa couldn't stall Jesse forever.

He waited for the bastard to notice him and came to a stillstand as soon as he saw the other angel look at him. 

The emotions crossing Hunter’s face when he noticed his presence were gone almost as quickly as they had appeared, replaced by a mask of fake calmness, but Len had seen his irritation and anger, as well as a really brief burst of pleasure. 

If he had to guess, the angel was probably thinking of killing two birds with one stone, getting the rod and rid of Len in one go.

It worked in Lens favor that Hunter was probably more interested in killing him before he had the chance to figure out his plan and expose him than he had in acquiring the weapon. Only one of those things was truly time sensitive to the bastard. 

Smirking at the floor for a second, Len made a show of pulling out a piece of paper, looking at it, before looking at Hunter again. He made sure to look appropriately surprised and scared.

The paper was holding the location the rod was going to be in during their showdown, but to Hunter it might as well be one of the pages of the book of souls from how it looked all the way over here. 

They had made several copies of the manuscript, in case something went wrong, so each one of them would be able to place it where the rod was currently being kept and it looked like their foresight had just paid off.

He slowly backed up to the corner again. He couldn't take the route Lisa and Jesse had taken and he needed to draw Hunter away. He saw the other following and as soon as he made the turn he grabbed Mick and dragged him several feet away before shoving him through the closest door, some type of supply closet.

“Don’t come out, till we’re gone. You know what needs to be done.” was all he managed to say before he heard Hunter draw closer. Making sure the door looked close he hurried down the corridor before turning around again and slowly backing up backwards.

“Ah, Leonard, just who I wanted to see.”, were the first word out of his mouth upon rounding the corner. “I meant to talk to you about something. I just hadn't had the time to do it yet. Do you have a minute for me so we can go and talk somewhere more private.” They were now around a bend in the corridor and Len couldn't see the door Mick was hiding behind anymore. Perfect.

Len stopped. He took a moment before answering, trying to make sure his act was believable without overselling it. “You know what? This really isn't a good time. I have so many things to do. Superiors to see. How about this? Once I'm done with all my meetings we’ll meet up again and have our talk then?” He made sure to sound slightly nervous. 

Okay, Hunter was suddenly gaining a lot of ground really fast. Maybe he'd been a little too believable. Mentioning any kind of superior probably hadn't been a good idea. Len tried to turn around, but Hunter was suddenly right in front of him. Damned angels of speed. He should have made room for this in his plan.

“Wrong answer. I know you’re spying on me, probably already know what I’ve done, so now you’ll get a front row seat to the final show. Don't worry, it's gonna be glorious. And afterwards you’ll be the first to go, followed shortly be your little team.” 

Len tried to actually back away during his little speech, not liking where this was going, when Hunter suddenly punched him in the face. His last conscious thought was: ‘Someone’s been snacking on some souls.’ After that there was nothing.


	13. Chapter 12

_Hell // At the same time_

Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin were having a difficult time trying to evade Eobard. Getting the rumors started hadn't been a problem. Everyone in hell was willing to lie for the right price, especially if it involved Wells. 

Since the demon had tried to overthrow one of the prices of hell and tried to claim his crown and place in the hierarchy as his own, he had had many enemies, willing to do anything that might harm him. 

Making the rumor believable had been a little harder, but they had managed to do it. Trust was a rarity down here and everyone always knew to double check their sources, so all three threw together some artifacts to get someone down in the archives to put word about purgatory and the rod in hell’s books. 

Barry was sure that Eobard Wells would immediately contact Zolomon when he verified the source. This way they would never believe the thing to be a scam. There was no way heaven and hell would work together to trick one of their own.

What came after was a little harder. Threats and violence tended to be more common down here and Eobard made no secret of the fact that he had figured out Barry's identity by now. 

Their days therefore consisted of trying to get everything needed for the seal, while also trying to stay alive. 

Just yesterday someone had been in their common room, thrashing everything and leaving a knife pierced through one of their contracts stuck in their tabletop. The message these days seemed to be ‘Stay silent and out of my business’. 

Since their part was done that was hardly a problem, but Wells seemed to think that their quick trips to gather all the necessary ingredients were ploys to spy on him and thwart his plans.

At this point Barry was sure he'd never be as happy as when they would take Eobard Wells and Hunter Zolomon out.

He was actually in the middle of hiding down in the training grounds from the other demon when he heard the call. Someone was summoning him and this one wasn't human, at all. 

Glad for a way out, no matter what awaited him, he made his way upstairs. When he arrived at the crossroads he became aware of two things. An angel had summoned him and that angel was not Len.

Surprised he looked into the grim faces of Lisa and Mick and his heart sank.

“Is he-?” Barry couldn't finish the sentence, but from the expression the other two wore he expected the worst. 

“dead?” Mick finished the sentence for him, since Lisa looked like she couldn't get the words out. “Not yet, but we need to move the plan up. Can you be done by tomorrow? “

Barry looked at them both with the same serious expression they wore.

“We will be. Might not be as sophisticated as planned, but I’ll make sure the seal is done. Everything else ready?”

This time it was Lisa who replied. “They swallowed the bait and the rod is in position. We're as ready as we'll ever be.”

“Then let's get it done.”


	14. Chapter 13

_Earth // Two days later_

Len wasn't sure how he was still alive. Hunter sure was a sick son of a bitch. He knew that the other angel wanted him there for his big showdown, wanted him to be his first kill, wanted to make an example of Len. Nobody defies the new king of heaven without consequences. 

It was the kind of dramatic bullshit the asshole lived for and he was sure Wells was just the same.

His only hope in the last twenty-four hours had been that their own plan was going along smoothly. If he didn't make it out alive he wanted the rest of them to succeed in annihilating Hunter’s and Well’s sorry asses.

Now here he was, somehow still alive besides the treatment he received. All of heaven knew that Hunter was a sadistic bastard even though no-one actually said anything aloud. Len suspected he enjoyed torturing him than he was actually interested in getting information out of him and it showed. 

His dominant right hand was useless. Hunter had crushed just about every bone with his foot before dislocation his shoulder. The whole place was swollen and throbbed.

It was a myth on earth that angels or demons could just heal from injuries. They might be able to withstand more serious injuries easier and could only be killed if one managed to kill the essence within, but the bodies that were formed for them reacted just as any other human being to injury and pain. Both sides had healers especially trained for this purpose.

His left leg and his whole right side were burned with hellfire, probably a gift from Wells. Overnight most of the blisters had popped.parys of his shirt and the remains of his pants in that area were wet and the area was hot and sensitive to the touch. 

He was sure that a few of his ribs were broken and his face felt swollen. Hunter had taken great pleasure in hitting him there. His left eye had taken some kind injury, Len was sure, since he barely had any vision left. Everything was swimming and if he concentrated on one thing for too long his head throbbed.

The worst part had been his wings though. The wings of an angel also carried his essence and it hurt to have your own being splintered and ribbed away. Hunter had taken great pleasure in ribbing entire chunks out and burning them away. It had been the only time Len had actually screamed.

So now he sat in the abandoned church they had agreed on, barely able to keep upright in the old church pews. At least this meant that the plan had worked so far. 

Eobard was pacing around in the front, probably waiting for Wells to arrive. There was an old oak chest in front of him, the rod resting within. Speak of the demon and he shall appear. Suddenly there was one more being in the church, standing in front of the altar and looking at him in curiosity. “You didn't tell me you'd bringing guests.”

Len managed a “Fuck you”, which made them both laugh.

“I had to pass the time somehow before I got another chance to steal the rod.” That meant that Lisa had managed to lure Jesse away again. Seems like the others were moving quicker though. Hunter wasn't supposed to get his chance in the weapons locker for another week.

Normally not a fan of rushing a carefully laid out plan, Len couldn't help but feel a little relieved.  
Another five days and he'd been dead for sure.

Len tried to keep quiet while Hunter and Wells both took place in front of the chest. “Okay, let's do it.” 

Hunter opened the chest and was about to grab the rod, when Wells grabbed his hand. “Hey, not so fast. Who says you'll get to grab it first?”

Hunter tried to get his hand off. “Don't be ridiculous. One of has to draw the power first and then you can go right after. It's purgatory there will be enough power for both of us.”

Wells now grabbed him by the shoulders, pushing him forcefully away from the chest. “There's no guarantee for that. But if you're sure then I'll go first and you can go after.” He was about to grab the rod himself when Hunter suddenly attacked him from behind.

Len couldn't suppress his grin even though it hurt like like a bitch, while the two beings struggled like children for the artifact, each of them trying to grab it first. 

It was by sheer luck that Wells managed to grab and hold onto the feathers of the angel. He'd have to have some kind of talisman or artifact for him to even see them, much less get a hold of them, but wells used his chance to rip a huge chunk of them out. Hunter lost his balance and fell back yelling, while Wells jumped forward and grabbed the rod. 

The moment he touched it, he started to scream. The rid light up and the light traveled up the demon's arm. Liked like whatever power was contained within was traveling into him through the connection. Divine power, heavenly power and now Len was laughing out loud. How had none of them even thought of that?

What an irony. The demon suddenly started to burn, his essence slowly being destroyed. 

Hunter was looking on in shock and anger before he started laughing maniacally himself. Apparently, he had realized that they had been fooled, while also recognizing the chance presented to him here. He looked on as the demon slowly turned to ashes. When the church was silent again he slowly stepped into the remains of the demon before grinding them deeper into the floor.

“That's what happens to the greedy in the new order. Be lucky you didn't stick around for me to punish you. There was never a place in the new world for dirt like you. Hell will only be a sad reminder once I'm done and the wicked will be dealt with as I see fit.” With that he stepped forward and grabbed the rod.

This was it. Now it would be decided. And while Hunter slowly lit up while drawing the power into him, Len slowly tilted to the side, to hurt to stay up straight, while his vision slowly faded out.

 

______________________________________

 

Barry and his team had taken most of the day to prepare the seal and had been waiting anxiously for someone to arrive.

It almost broke his heart when he became aware of Len’s presence, but couldn't go in to help him. He grabbed the feather in his pockets and squeezed tight. He tried to find reassurance in the fact that the other was still alive.

Staying back when he heard Wells screams was the hardest thing to do. They hadn't heard anything from Hunter yet, but Barry was desperate to storm inside and rescue Len from the danger, plan be damned. He felt Cisco and Mick grab his arms. Looking at them he realized that he had actually taken two steps forward.

Barry took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. The second there was another light in the church together with the feeling of a massive increase in power, they stormed their way inside. 

A quick look around showed Barry that Len was lying in one of the pews, eyes closed and not moving. He wanted to hurry over but Lisa beat him to it. At the front he could see that Zolomon was starting to laugh.

He was holding the rod and while he certainly didn't look all that well with the blood running from his nose and eyes, it seemed that his vessel would hold. Damn it, that meant their plan A had failed.  
The powered-up angel slowly stepped closer to them. “Would you look at that. All the pawns in one place. Makes this all a lot easier. Thanks for the boost by the way.” He slowly twirled the rod in his hand, before suddenly casting it aside. “I might not be able to hold this power for long, but it will be enough to get rid of all of you and break your stupid seal, before getting some real power. Heaven will never know what hit it. And once I consumed all the souls I can get my hands on, that will be it. My new world order will start.”

From the corner of his eye Barry could see Mick taking a step forward. “You done monologuing yet? Some of us got things to do today.” It seems the angel was done with the situation. 

“If you’re so eager to die, who am I to deny you.” With that he charged forward.

The following fight was bloody and gruesome. 

Barry saw Caitlin and Cisco get thrown across the room at one point, as he desperately tried to get get a grip on Hunter's wings. Lisa has given him an artifact, containing a feather of the other angel that she has traded in beforehand, which allowed him to see the shimmering form, but the other was as quick as him, which made it nearly impossible. 

He barely had the concentration for steering the fight away from Len, much less to make out what everyone else was doing. He got hit twice by Zolomon. The first time he crashed into some of the church pews and heard a Crack in his collarbone the second time he got smacked in the face and could swear his jaw had cracked. 

He couldn't say how long it took, but he finally managed to grab onto the damned things when Hunter momentarily paused to gloat when he'd grabbed Hartley by the throat. 

Barry took hold of the feathers with two hands and pulled back as quickly and as hard as he could. He almost blacked out from the pain in his injured side but didn't’ let go.

Barry heard Hunter yelp as he took a surprising step backward and let go of Hartley to get rid of the nuisance at his back. The moment he got a hold of Barry and turned around to deal with him, Mick took his shot. The angel had held back so far to wait for the right opportunity and it had finally come.

Barry could see him coming from behind, the Kane appearing in his hand and couldn't help his laugh. “Game over, asshole.”

Registering his words and the direction he was looking in, Hunter threw him across the room. Barry could see him trying to turn around, just before he crashed into the stone altar and heard a Crack in his spine. In his last conscious moments, he saw Mick strike him with the Lance and a bright light erupting which made Barry wince and close his eyes. He didn't open them again.


	15. Epilogue

_Still Earth // One hour later_

The next time Barry opened his eyes it was to Caitlin’s concerned face. He was blinking at her, not really sure what was going on, while the other demon was anxiously speaking more at than to him. 

“How are you? Is everything alright? We were sure for a moment that Hunter had managed to someone eradicate you before the healers turned up. Barry?” She seemed to realize that no answer was coming. 

Barry was his part was suddenly remembering the events of the past few weeks and quickly sat up. For a moment he was disoriented, only steadied by Caitlin’s hand on his shoulder, before everything cleared and he took in the chaos around him. There was a mix of angels and demons angels around him. Higher ranking garrison leaders were speaking with some of the princes while two healers, ones for each site was wandering around. The church was completely destroyed and he could see the chest with the rod carried around by an angel. Semmes like they won.

He turned around in search of Len and saw Cisco and Hartley standing side by side and talking with their superiors before his eyes landed on the angel he was looking for. Len was on the ground, side leaning against a stone slab and talking quietly with Mick. His body seemed to be healed, but from the way Lisa was sitting behind him shifting through the air and making him wince once in while, Barry guessed that his wings must still be pretty damaged.

He slowly got up and made his way over there, Caitlin by his side. When Len saw them coming he smiled at Barry, before mentioning to Lisa to stop. He slowly turned around and gingerly leaned back until he was resting again. The others made room for Barry who took a seat beside him.

“So, what did I miss?”

 

______________________________________

 

Lisa and Mick had been filling Len in on their final fight, when he saw Barry coming over. He'd never been as relieved as when he found out that the demon was still alive. Now resting more or less comfortably with the kid by his side he was ready to hear what came after. 

Barry was as well it seemed, since he beat him to the question. “So, what did I miss?”

It seemed they had missed a lot. Particularly the arrive of heavens and yells armies, mere moments after the area fight was over, alarmed by the sudden increase of power and the explosion that followed. 

It seemed they also missed the screaming match between Mick, Lisa, Caitlin, Cisco and their superiors. After ensuring that Len and Barry were being healed, accusations had been flying all around until both sides decided to graciously overlook their insubordination in the face of this much bigger threat. 

Thee had been some congratulations on their victory with some warnings for next time thrown in for good measure.

Nobody had mentioned the fact that Cisco and Hartley had been holding hands the whole time, probably because they looked ready to murder just about everyone according to Mick. He seemed to think that whole thing easy pretty funny. 

Len actually could care less. Now that the euphoria over having survived had settled and he had Barry in his arms he just wanted to celebrate their victory and relax for a century or two. 

When he made his though known to the others there was a round of tired agreement. Seemed like they had agreement plan.

 

______________________________________

 

_Earth // Three weeks later._

 

Len had never been more relaxed in his life. He was lying in the grass at a crossroad in the middle of fucking nowhere, Minnesota with agreement burger bag and some milkshakes next to him. There was still earth on his hands from where he am buried the little oak cheat with his feather. 

Lisa was out for some drinks with Mick and Caitlin and he was pretty sure Hartley and Cisco had snuck off somewhere to had sex.

Len for his part was just enjoying the warmth and sounds on earth, body relaxed and eyes closed. He grinned when a shadow suddenly fell over him. There was the rustling of close as someone sat down beside him and leaned over.  
A second later there was a hand on his cheek and lips on his own. The kiss was slow and deep before the other drew away. Len opened his eyes to see Barry grin at him.

“So what can I do for you on this fine day? Got lost on your way back home? ‘Cause if you were trying to call for help, you definitely dialed the wrong number.”

If someone was driving close to the crossroad at that moment all they would have heard was the sound of Len’s laughter.

_End_


End file.
